North Korea Boldly Goes Into the Nothingness

In a sign of its rising technological and military ambitions, North Korea last April unveiled a grand new aeronautics competitor to the U.S.’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA.

And just in time for its first anniversary, the agency has a new name and a sleek new logo — a retro, Jetsons-era throwback that captures the optimism of the Space Age.

Unfortunately, North Korea likely didn’t consult their allies in Havana, who might have talked the Pyongyang graphic designers out of splashing the new acronym for the year-old agency, the National Aerospace Development Administration, across the otherwise lovely logo.

In Spanish, of course, NADA means “nothing.”

Pyongyang’s official state media explained the thinking behind the logo: “Seen in the lower part of the globe-shaped dark blue emblem are white-colored letters ‘Kukgaujugaebalkuk’ (National Aerospace Development Administration) in Korean and in its upper part light blue-colored letters ‘DPRK’ with the Great Bear above them. Printed in its middle are white-colored letters ‘NADA’ in English.”

Pyongyang has claimed other successes in shooting satellites into space but none have been found.

North Korea said late Monday that NADA’s work is devoted to turning the country “into a space power, fully exercising its right to peaceful development of the space on a legal basis.”

Despite United Nations’ sanctions that ban North Korea from launching ballistic rockets, which many other countries see as part of its missile testing program, Pyongyang said it would stick to its “principled stand to reject the application of selectivity and double-standards in space activities.”